Elusive Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor may be temporarily off the radar, but he's hardly inactive. In addition to working on material for the next Nails record, Reznor is fine-tuning tracks for his long-in-the-works side project Tapeworm, which also features Tool/ A Perfect Circle singer Maynard James Keenan.

"It has been an interesting experiment for Maynard and I to peek around in each other's heads, shining flashlights in some shadowy corners," Reznor said in a statement issued to MTV News. "We've realized we're each in somewhat similar places in our respective lives and outlook, so it's been great to collaborate on that level."

At the moment, Tapeworm includes Nine Inch Nails guitarist Danny Lohner and 12 Rounds bassist/drummer/keyboardist Atticus Ross. "Tapeworm provides me the opportunity to work with some people I respect immensely in a democratic environment," Reznor said.

While ex-NIN keyboardist/programmer Charles Clouser has worked with Tapeworm in the past, he's no longer involved, the group's publicist said.

Although the group has futzed around for several years in New Orleans (see "NIN's Reznor Teams With Tool's Keenan For Tapeworm"), it recently checked into Atlanta's Southern Tracks Studios to work on its debut album, which will be released on Reznor's Nothing Records. No release date has been set.

"We're working on an album's worth of tracks that started as one idea and have mutated and grown into another altogether," the NIN mastermind said. "Musically, the results are becoming much more song-oriented than I would have thought."

While most of Tapeworm's music remains unearthed, fans got a sneak peek of the track "Vacant" in 1999 when A Perfect Circle regularly performed it in concert. The move irked Reznor, who wrote on the official Nine Inch Nails Web site, "I have to admit I find it mildly irritating for it to debut in this fashion before feeling it has been properly realized."

But that's all water under the bridge. "I am learning a lot in the process and that's really what it's all about for me," Reznor enthused. "I'm excited about what we're doing."